Manchester Shows What UK Economic Revival Can Look Like

“They just thought it was a bunch of cocky Mancunians talking bullshit,” says Jim O’Neill, the former Treasury minister and Goldman Sachs chief economist. “But the more time goes on and the more the evidence becomes clear, they’re like, ‘Oh my God.’”

O’Neill is talking about Greater Manchester, whose economy has been growing at twice the UK’s national rate. It’s attracted the highest foreign direct investment outside the capital, drawing global companies like IBM, Booking.com, Klarna, Bosch, Roku and Auto Trader, while a cultural scene that once fostered bands like Oasis is encouraging young people to move here — and stay.

When the band sang: “I would like to leave this city / This old town don’t smell too pretty,” it was a very different place. After decades of decline, Manchester is booming again. The city center’s population is approaching 100,000 – up from hundreds in 1990 – and it retains a higher share of its graduates than anywhere in England outside the capital.